


The Chance the Modern World Presents

by JoyOcean



Category: D.Gray-man, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Avengers Family, Domestic Avengers, F/M, Family, Fluff, Friendship, I'm working on it, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Nonbinary Alma Karma, Nonbinary Character, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Reincarnation, Romance, Tags May Change, bucky barnes will hopefully show up, but its dgm and avengers so like, but obviously I haven't posted all that I've written so like, doesn't really follow the avengers timeline, expect it in the future, im tagging it in line with what I've written so far, mainly bc i'm keeping the family together, spiderman might show up i hope so, the violence hasn't shown up yet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:13:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22918264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoyOcean/pseuds/JoyOcean
Summary: Lavi is reborn into the world of the Avengers as the star child of Tony and Pepper. His scars are healed, but the dual stigmas of his Crystal-type Innocence are still traced over his wrists. He believes he alone has received this second chance at life until he encounters his fellow Exorcist Kanda Yuu on the streets of New York and drags him back to the Tower with renewed hope in his heart to have his family from his previous life together again.But Lavi's scars that aren't physical haven't fully healed, and the other reborn Excorists aren't faring much better. They need the support of each other and of their allies in this new world if they are to recover. And some of the Exorcists face more danger in the situations they find themselves in than others.
Relationships: Kanda Yuu/Allen Walker, Kanda Yuu/Alma Karma, Kanda Yuu/Lavi, Kanda Yuu/Lavi/Lenalee Lee/Allen Walker, Kanda Yuu/Lenalee Lee, Lavi/Allen Walker, Lavi/Lenalee Lee, Lenalee Lee/Allen Walker, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Comments: 12
Kudos: 108





	1. Kanda Meets the Family (well just two of them for now)

**Author's Note:**

> This is like my number 1 crossover so of course I had to write one.
> 
> Ok so like I did a ton of research into all the timelines involved in this kind of thing and then I don't think I ever actually used that research so make of that what you will. I wrote a lot of physical pages of the rough draft for this, some of which is typed, most of which is unedited. I'm hopeful that I'll post most of it and that this will be quite long, though it may end up more as fragments than a proper full story. Lavi is the POV character for a lot of it because I miss him, but other characters will get their thoughts in there as well.
> 
> The reason it's a multi ship is that I just want everyone to be happy and this is one way to do it. It's implied they got together before they died and were reincarnated.

It seemed, in the whole process of being reincarnated, and then in the elation of finding Kanda and realizing he was not alone in this strange world, that Lavi had forgotten the shame ingrained into him as a Bookman’s Apprentice. 

He hadn’t hesitated at all to pull Kanda through the streets after him and into the Tower. He hadn’t hesitated to bring Kanda into his room. Well, perhaps he hadn’t hesitated, but he hadn’t acted completely thoughtlessly. He’d checked JARVIS’s programming to learn how to signal not to record, not to scan. He doubted Kanda would appreciate such surveillance, given his past in the last lifetime, and Lavi himself didn’t want his father getting scans of Kanda. Who knew what similarities would show between his blood and Kanda’s if any of Tony’s machines were delicate to pick up on the traces of Innocence inside them. 

But it didn’t change the fact he’d forgotten his shame enough that he didn’t even lock his door. He didn’t even close it.

But that shame came back with a biting, burning passion even through his joy of finding Kanda when his father walked into his room. Tony had quickly apologized and walked back out--almost run actually--but he’d still seen. Lavi rolled over and collapsed half on top of Kanda, his mind frantic. His father had seen--but they weren’t even doing anything! They were just lying next to each other on the bed, fully clothed and completely respectable. Even their conversation should have seemed perfectly innocuous, to anyone who didn’t know about their shared past, and JARVIS had no recordings to prove otherwise. Yet Lavi still felt panic fluttering in his chest. He knew if he glanced down at his wrists the red bracelets that his Innocence formed of his blood would be shivering out of their form, reacting to his emotions in a way that they hadn’t--that he hadn’t let them--since his Innocence manifested again in this life.

Kanda picked up Lavi’s wrists, twisting them to check their condition. His voice was soft, gentle in a way Lavi suspected he’d never grow used to, when he asked, “Are you...okay?” Kanda seemed to be able to tell from the twist of Lavi’s mouth that the answer would be negative. “Is it the same thing as before? With Bookman?” His dark eyes held no judgment even as he asked. Of course, Kanda would have noticed that in their past life, despite all the battles, despite the fact that they’d never actually done anything. Or maybe because of that; Lavi had never been subtle about the pressures of his life with Bookman.

Lavi nodded and buried his face back in Kanda’s neck. At least he still had this, still had Kanda, for however long fate saw fit. He was glad that he’d trained away his first reaction, the one from his life--lives--before the Order. Before, he wouldn’t have even been able to handle touch like this; his father’s interference would have had him half out the ground floor doors of the Tower in fright.

Kanda sighed into Lavi’s hair. “I think you should go talk to him.” Lavi shook his head and didn’t look up. “I know how you feel. I was there too. I might not have been in the same situation as you, but I was essentially raised by the church. They had certain expectations..” 

Lavi knew; Lavi could list them the way he could list the expectations from Bookman. The church expected “upright” behavior..they expected Exorcists to be moral examples. They expected, often, for Exorcists to have children and continue a bloodline that might result in more Exorcists. And that meant not to touch someone like Lavi, ever. 

Kanda kept talking. “But this life...this place,” Lavi knew he meant this world, the world where Japan was still a country belonging to humans, where the events of their own world seemed to never have happened, “it’s different. Your parents are different. Mr. Stark is a very public figure; even I’ve seen him on the news all the time. And from what I’ve seen, maybe we just need to talk to him. Maybe he can lift all these fears you have.”

Lavi thought that was a very optimistic outlook for Kanda. He knew his fears, and Kanda’s, and any Exorcists, went too deep for a simple talk to fix. But that Kanda of all people was advocating a discussion was enough for Lavi to consider it. He rolled over so that he lay next to Kanda again instead of on top of him, gazing up at the ceiling. “What do you think I should tell him then? Surely not…” The silence stretched out. If they couldn’t even talk about it here, in the privacy of Lavi’s room, when they’d both been through it...They certainly couldn’t talk about it with anyone else. “Just about us?”

Kanda shrugged and stood up, heading for the door. “They don’t need to know anything else right now.”

“Well,” Lavi tried to project his usual grin, “since it’s you asking....” Despite his words, he didn’t move until Kanda had already reached the doorway.

Tony was sitting on the couch with Pepper when the teenagers emerged into the living area. He opened his mouth to talk but stopped when Pepper elbowed him in the side; she could clearly read the apprehensive looks on both of the teenagers’ faces. Lavi sat down on the couch across from his parents, and Kanda sat next to him.

Lavi hesitated before he spoke, but his voice didn’t waver. “Mom, Dad, this is Kanda. He’s my,” he glanced at Kanda’s face briefly but saw no resistance, “boyfriend. We’re dating.” he took a deep breath. “I like guys. I mean, I like girls too. I don’t know what the exact term is…” Lavi saw Kanda’s look of surprise. It’s true that Lavi was usually unstoppable when it came to learning new things, especially ones relating to history or affecting the present; however, he was intensely aware that his father had the ability to monitor his searches, even if he never would, so Lavi never looked up anything that could demonstrate a trackable, prolonged interest. “So…yeah, we’re dating. Sorry for not mentioning it before.” he curled in on himself, just slightly.

Pepper was the first to react. “Oh, honey. You know we’re fine with it, right? There’s nothing wrong.” She came to sit at Lavi’s left on the couch, while Kanda sat on the right. “You can always talk to us.” She smiled across Lavia at Kanda. “And it’s nice to meet you, Kanda. I hope you take good care of our Lavi.” Kanda merely nodded to her.

Tony came over more slowly--choosing to sit on the table in front of them, since the couch was full--but he was smiling gently. “Lavi, Lavi, didn’t you know I’m bi? The media loves to talk about it, saying I’m a traitor because I settled down with a lady--can’t they see that’s because of how awesome Pepper is?” He seemed to realize he was rambling. “So yeah, you know your mom and I would never judge you.” He hesitated before continuing, his eyes flicking to Kanda, “Is this...worry...related to the thing we talked about before?”

Of course his father would notice that, Lavi thought fondly. Although to say they’d talked about it before would be a stretch, seeing as they’d danced around it Lavi’s whole life. His parents thought it was merely some kind of condition, perhaps brought on by Lavi’s genius as a child. They’d respected his wishes to not see a professional about it as long as no harm came to him during one of his sudden periods of panic and paranoia. They’d never guess it was a myriad of violent and tragic conditions brought on by fighting as a child soldier in a past life. “Yes, it’s from that,” Lavi said. His voice wasn’t loud, but his tone made it clear he was fine with discussing it here. “Kanda knows about it--my condition.” He added the last part for Kanda’s benefit. Kanda was already aware that Lavi's parents didn’t know about the reincarnation thing, obviously; he’d be able to catch Lavi’s tone and figure out the cover Lavi was using with his parents.

“I have a similar condition,” Kanda volunteered, unprompted. Lavi was surprised that Kanda was willing to share that, but he didn’t let it show on his face. “That’s how we met, actually,” Kanda continued. 

That was...technically true. Lavi actually did have a couple of facial searches running at all times looking for matches to other Exorcists, regardless of the possibility of his father looking into what he was doing; he just hadn’t found Kanda through that method. It was difficult to provide the necessary descriptions when he didn’t have photos. At least he wasn’t questioned on how he was supposed to know these people, despite never having met them online or in-person in any trackable way.

“Fascinating,” Tony commented brightly. Lavi could tell he meant it seriously. “Are you getting any kind of treatment--” he cut himself off. “Sorry. That’s definitely too personal for a first meeting. Maybe later.” He snapped his fingers. “Remind me to give you the shovel talk later as well--now’s not really the time for it, but I need to do it eventually.” Pepper looked exasperated, but Lavi noticed she didn’t actually disagree. “And as for you,” here Tony turned to Lavi, “just what were you thinking, disabling those security protocols?” He struggled to keep his tone cheerful, but Lavi could see he was upset--not angry, exactly, but unhappy. “They’re in place to keep you safe. Maybe you can trust him because you’re dating or whatever, but people who enter the Tower still need to be scanned.” His eyes were pleading as he entreated Lavi, his own past evidence for his words. “Even people you trust can betray you sometimes. And there are people like Loki who can take on other’s appearances.”

Kanda jumped in before Lavi could say anything. “I’m not getting scanned.” His voice was firm. “You can interrogate me and do your background checks or whatever, but my body is mine and mine alone.”

Lavi didn’t question this; it was why he made sure JARVIS wouldn’t scan Kanda in the first place. “It’s not a problem, Dad,” he promised before Tony could comment on Kanda’s statement. “I trust Kanda. And, like he said, you can do your invasive background checks and stuff.”

Tony leaned back, bracing a hand on the table. “If you’re sure,” he shrugged. Then he smirked. “Still, to go through all that trouble and not even close your door.” Pepper had to smack in the arm to get him to stop laughing at Lavi’s clear embarrassment.


	2. Kanda is a Child Soldier (again)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanda tells Lavi that the misery of his fate just seems to keep repeating. At least they have each other again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For other stories I'm working on rn, writing conflicts is difficult because I feel like I'm just hurting the characters...I don't really feel I have that problem for dgm bc their lives are already so horrible. I guess that a good thing? It makes it easier to write at least. But I'm hopeful they'll have a happy ending at the end of everything. I'm working towards helping them help themselves.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

Lavi walked Kanda out of the lobby of the Tower, partially because Kanda needed someone to show him the way and partially so Lavi had a reason to escape his parents.

“They’re not so bad, you know,” Kanda told him. “You could do a lot worse.” He left a part of that sentence unspoken--that he had done a lot worse, in his last life. They both had, in terms of more than parents.

“I know,” Lavi told him with a smile as they walked out. “They’re just a bit overprotective.” He figured they’d walked far enough from the building now that Lavi didn’t really have an excuse to go much further. “How should I contact you? You got a phone or what?” He was curious to see how Kanda communicated in this day and age. And world. Kanda had barely put up with the golems in their past life. Lavi made a mental note to drop some inspiration to his dad to create something like the golems; he hadn’t realized how useful they’d been until now. He didn’t expect Kanda to have a phone; his fellow Exorcist wasn’t known for carrying permanent belongings other than his Innocence.

Kanda shrugged. “If you just stand out here next time you want to meet, I’ll be right over.”

Lavi rolled his eyes. “But we can’t plan that way, Yuu. Besides, we should be able to talk without meeting in person.”

“I don’t have a phone.”

“Honestly, I kind of expected that.” Lavi sighed. “Next time we meet I’ll bring you one then.” he was about to say his goodbye when Kanda spoke again.

“I know what I said there, to Stark, about the background check and everything. That...might have been a little hasty.”

Lavi’s heart sank into his stomach. Of course. Kanda, of all people, couldn’t have luck even in this life. “Your parents??” he managed to ask. Already he was brainstorming plans, excuses, to get this past his father. It might be too late already; Tony probably started looking into Kanda’s past as soon as they left the room.

Kanda made a face, and Lavi spared a thought for how expressive his companion had become in this life. “My lack of them, rather.” Kanda seemed very unsure. “I was raised as a child soldier here as well. I have records now, solid ones, but considering your father…”

“He’ll see right through them,” Lavi realized aloud. “That’s rather problematic.”

“Well, you can bring it up with him if you want,” Kanda said. “It’s a bit hard to explain why you trust me though if we don’t tell them about all the other stuff.”

“I’m not telling them.” Lavi was firm on that point. “You were right about talking to them, but I’m not telling them about this. Not until we find the others, at least.”

Lavi could tell Kanda suspected he was just putting it off, with vague goals like that; to be fair, Kanda was right. Who knew if any of the others had been reborn, let alone survived this long, with their luck. Although meeting Kanda had significantly improved the likelihood. At last, Kanda grumbled, “Fine. They think it’s a kind of condition, right? Paranoia, secrecy...nightmares?” Lavi nodded. “No wonder they don’t exactly like us together. It’s one thing if I was encouraging you to go to therapy or something, but just randomly dating when we both have problems with trust is probably super strange to them. Not to mention unhealthy.”

Lavi was having none of it. “I don’t care,” he said bluntly. “I’m not telling them anything else. They can see what they want to see.” He flashed a grin that overstepped the border on confident into almost malicious. “Besides, it’s not like they can stop me anyway. If I have to, I can take care of anything Dad throws at me with Big Hammer Little Hammer.”

Kanda seemed to decide this wasn’t his fight. It was hard, trying to be encouraging. He wished Allen or Lenalee were here. “I’ll see you soon, then. I hope.”

Lavi laughed as Kanda scrunched his brow in confusion at his own heartfelt words. “I’ll see you too, Yuu. I’ll have JARVIS’s cameras on this area. If you need to contact me before I get you that phone, you know how.”

Frowning at the use of his first, name, Kanda waved Lavi off, refraining from pointing out that he could just bust into the Tower with Mugen if he really needed Lavi; his fellow Exorcist had sort of already made that point, so Kanda left it as it was and took his leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, any comments about what's happened or what could happen next...any comments at all would be great. I feel like the characters are a little OOC, but I guess it's justified in that they've had additional experiences before they died in their past lives and after they were born in this new life that would change their personalities a bit. What do you guys think? Do you like it?
> 
> Next chapter Lavi will have to face his parents and that whole discussion. Poor boy.


	3. Time to Talk with Parents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor Lavi has to try and explain Kanda to Tony and Pepper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quarantine has actually been the opposite of motivating for me personally, but I was planning on updating this weeks ago and the guilt finally got to me. Hopefully I start to use all the new free time I have to write again.

Tony ambushed Lavi as soon as he stepped back into the living area. “A boyfriend, huh?” Tony’s face was skeptical enough to border on harsh. “You’re telling me you two met before today?” He gestured to the screens that hung in the air above the table.

Lavi’s face twisted into a grimace. It seemed his father had been even faster in unearthing unfortunate information than Lavi had expected. “What’s it to you?” he asked his father blankly as he flopped onto the couch. “It’s not like you weren’t caught doing a whole lot worse when you were my age.”

To his credit, Tony didn’t get angry at that. He almost seemed to deflate. “I’m not...I’m not criticizing you, Lavi. I saw how you reacted before, and I want you to know that I support you and your decisions.” His eyes hardened. “But it’s one matter to invite your secret boyfriend into the Tower, and it’s another thing entirely to do that with,” he cared a hand through his hand in frustration, “a one night stand--or whatever the equivalent is for teenagers who are just messing around--and have JARVIS turn off the monitoring protocols.”

Lavi could feel his temper, typically a dormant thing, start to rise at the casual way Tony dismissed Kanda. “I wasn’t ‘messing around’ with him. I told you the truth. We’re dating.”

Tony flung a hand at the screens again; now that Lavi looked closer he could see they were street camera recordings of his reunion with Kanda. He could see the moment their eyes met and widened in recognition. “I don’t know if you believe in love at first sight then, because I ran a facial recognition of his face alongside yours, and I know you two have never seen each other before. Not anywhere with cameras at least, which I know rules out pretty much everywhere you’ve been in your entire life.”

Lavi was tired of the constant reminders of all the security that surrounded him. It reminded him of being back with the Order, recording as CROW watched all the other Exorcists. Feeling their eyes on his back too, despite the fact he was supposed to be exempt from their authority, as a member of the Bookman Clan. And he was already tired of this argument. “What’s the point?” he asked his father. “As long as I trust him it’s fine, isn’t it?”

Pepper finally came over from where she’d been observing from the doorframe--she’d stepped out to get a glass of water, it seemed, and when she’d returned to find Lavi already back, she’d taken to guarding the doorway. Lavi would be upset, but even he had to admit he had a habit of avoiding conversations he didn’t want to have. Strange that he hadn’t even thought of running away from this one. Perhaps because he knew it had to happen eventually, and it was better that it was sooner rather than later. It would be more complicated later, if his plans to find the others went well. 

“But if it’s not fine, Lavi?” Pepper said as she sat on the couch by his head to stroke his hair. “You just met him; you need to do a background check, at the very least. You can’t just trust people.”

“Yes!” Tony pointed to Pepper. “Exactly what she said. People hide things all the time, Lavi, and,” here he hesitated, and Lavi instantly knew what was coming, “some people hide worse things than others.” He gestured to the projected images again, and this time the pictures switched. A new picture of Kanda filled the screen, clearly a still from a video by the quality. Kanda looked only a few years younger; he was standing in the hallway of some facility, and though the image was cropped to avoid showing the worst of the damage, it was clear what he was doing from the blood-covered sword he wielded.

Lavi was standing before he knew what he was doing, staring at the image. “JARVIS, full screen,” he commanded. The AI compiled before Tony’s noise of protest could cancel the order. The full image of the hallway filled the air above the table; his parents had probably cropped it before in fear that the bodies on the floor would provoke Lavi’s condition, but Lavi had seen much worse in his time. He was hardly about to collapse from seeing the corpses of random people he didn't even know. He had eyes only for Kanda and his shining, razor-sharp Innocence that seemed to glow through the holographic screen. He could feel his blood heating under his skin. It had just been so long since he’d seen any of the others in battle. Almost all of the Exorcists hated fighting, of course, along with all the other things they’d been made to do. But they all knew that wielding their Innocence was when they truly came alive, when they were at their most powerful. Lavi had suspected Kanda had activated already--he’d been almost positive, in fact--but he hadn’t seen Mugan slung at his hip or shoulder, and there weren’t many places in modern clothing to conceal a sword. He hadn’t asked either. Now, seeing it, he felt the same coiling feeling that had led him to drag Kanda to the Tower and into his room. He could feel his red bracelets jumping in time to his heartbeat with the strength of his emotions; he quickly pulled down the sleeves of his sweatshirt to cover them completely.

His parents had been silent as he took in the image. No doubt they thought this was a very difficult experience for him. A betrayal. Now Tony spoke up again as Lavi pulled down his sleeves. His parents had taken notice and had decided a while back that he concealed his wrists when his condition was about to act up; they were right that it was related to his “condition” and that he did it before panicking, but it had more to do with strong emotions than anything. “I know you thought he was trustworthy,” Tony said, his voice low and gentle. “But that’s what people like him do. They try to...to make you vulnerable, through trust.”

Lavi did his best to calm his no doubt elated face before he glanced over his shoulder at his parents and raised an eyebrow. “What, this? I already knew about this.” It was true enough, he figured; Kanda had told him he’d been a child soldier in this life as well, and Lavi had already known about Mugen.

Tony looked utterly baffled. “This isn’t special effects or anything like that, Lavi. This is--he actually killed these people!” Apparently they were past dancing around this because of Lavi’s condition. At this rate he half suspected the truth about his own situation would come out sooner than expected, possibly just to get them off his back. 

“He murdered people!” Tony continued. “You’re saying he told you this? You only just met!”

Lavi shrugged. “I don’t know what you want to hear from me. He did tell me, regardless of what you think of our situation. And he doesn’t do that kind of thing anymore.” Not to people who didn’t deserve it, at least. Lavi couldn’t expect Kanda to never fight again, not when he’d been raised as a weapon in more than one lifetime. Lavi couldn't even promise himself that he’d never fight again. “He got out of that,” he wouldn’t be meeting with Lavi if he hadn’t, “and it’s not my place to tell you about it anyway. You can ask him yourself next time he comes over.” He didn’t leave room in his tone for an argument about whether Kanda would be allowed back over or not.

Pepper wasn’t quite done, it seemed. “You’re definitely seeing each other now?” she asked. “Officially dating?”

“Yes,” Lavi said, nodding. “As official as dating ever is.”

Pepper smiled slightly at that but continued. “And he knows who you are, obviously, since you brought him here.” She barely waited for a nod from Lavi in confirmation. “Then you need to take some precautions. In public, you should remain as respectable as you want people to see you be in the papers. We might have kept your face under wraps all these years, but despite all our agreements with the media, someone is likely to spill something if they pick up on a story as juicy as the mysterious son of Stark dating.” Lavi didn’t need to be told this; he’d heard most of it all his life. He couldn’t remember a time before he’d been taught how to act in public in return for his anonymity, in either life. “In private, well. Tony’s given you the talk before, I’m sure,” Lavi’s face went bright red at the mere mention of it, “but you can ask JARVIS for anything you need. And of course, you already know how to turn off the monitoring. Oh, don’t forget to ask him--ask Kanda--to get some testing done, only for safety purposes of course, but you can never be too careful--”

Lavi cut her off there. For one, he couldn’t imagine Kanda agreeing to many tests anytime soon, and for another: “God, mom, I’m not--” He cut himself off and started over. “I don’t take after dad that much! We didn’t do anything, and we’re not planning to.”

“As long as you’re sure. It really doesn’t hurt to have some preparation in place, you know, for something in the heat of the moment. God knows your father could be more prepared.”

Lavi was covering his face with his hands now; what little could be seen was the same shade of red as his hair. “I did not need to know that!” he exclaimed. “Besides, aren’t you supposed to be discouraging that kind of behavior?”

“We’re supposed to be discouraging you from hanging out with dark, mysterious strangers who kill people with swords,” Tony pointed out. “So if we can’t do that, at least let us encourage some good behavior.”

**Author's Note:**

> Any comments on whether you like this, ideas for cool stuff that could happen...literally any comments would be great.


End file.
